The Suzuki's replacement.

This is a 1997 Yamaha SRV250 Renaissa due to arrive from Melbourne next week. It is the same type of motorcycle as that bought by my son last August, as seen in an earlier post.

Yamaha initially released the model as the SRV250 (no "Renaissa" name) - essentially a Virago 250 motor put into a feather-bed copy frame. The motor was basically unchanged from the Virago except that it used 2 carbies instead of 1 and had a little higher compression; end result 27hp as opposed
to 21hp for the Virago. Weight was about 144kg.

They came out in 2 colours - either metallic red or green - with a silver alloy engine and chrome exhaust and although well received they were expensive for a 250cc bike.

So the later cut price version - the Renaissa - was released.

Silver alloy and chrome were replaced by black paint on the motor and frame and a single speedo was used instead of the original tacho and speedo. There were few other cosmetic changes and the colours were either silver/black or orange/black.


This one has about 23,000km's and appears to have been well cared for.
I'm looking forward to its arrival.

Goodbye, Suzuki A100.

I never really established a close rapport with this 'bike (click image for larger view); after riding the CM400A for over six months I have become quite comfortable with that motorcycle, the larger 4-stroke engine providing easy cruising on Canberra's 80 kph and 100 kph roads and parkways.

She is going to a nice home, right here in Canberra, having been adopted by a member (the founder) of the on-line "club", Canberra Riders. 

He is going to turn Suze into a "Super Light" period racer.

Good on him......a new lease of life for a beaut little 2-stroker.

As for me, I am looking at replacing the A100 with something a bit bigger (engine capacity) and of 4-stroke configuration.
Stay tuned!

US President Obama to visit Canberra?

On the local news tonight (Canberra, WIN, with Jessica Good - left- presenting)  mention was made of a supposed visit by President Obama and how untidy was the possible route from the airport to Yarralumla.

Roadworks in progress; grass verges needing mowing, trees needing trimming and dead items removing, etcetera. Gasp! Shock! Horror!

Honestly, does anyone really think that the Prez is even going to notice this and, if he does, that he would be so impolite as to mention it when meeting Kev or our local Mayor, John Stanhope?
Rather than concern yourselves with tidying the place up for fleeting visitors, how about tidying it up for the RESIDENTS?

Footnote:
If Mr. Obama and his family wish to visit Canberra, that's fine by me.

Just so long as we don't have to put up with that bloody circling RAAF F-18 that was ever-present when his predecessor was here!

Happy Australia Day, 2010!

The weather today has been written into the script of a clichéd movie about Australia and Australia Day!

Fair dinkum, mate - it's 31+ degrees at 1:30 PM on the 26th. of January 2010 and the traditional Oz Day b-b-q has been held, sitting at the table in the backyard, protected from the sun by two large umbrellas.

Now - note all the "Aussie" things in the photo:-

• To start with, the two Aussies - myself and wife of 36 years, Shirley.
• The Aussie cap on my head.
• The (genuine Hawaiian) summery shirt.
• The glass of, and bottle of, Aussie Shiraz.
• The mug of Aussie tea.
  
• Aussie lamb chops and  beef sausages.
• Aussie Saxa-brand salt (sorry about the American Kraft and Newman's salad dressings!)
• Wife's glass of Aussie beer.
• All sitting at an Aussie hardwood table and on Aussie hardwood seats.

About the only things missing are an emu and a 'roo!

We didn't finish the meal off with lamingtons or a dessert of Peach Melba, I'm afraid, so we've let the team down on that score.

Australia Day "weekend".

(Click on image for larger view)
It's Oz Day on Tuesday the 26th. - that's in 4 days time. A public holiday held - like Anzac Day - on the actual declared date and not on the Monday closest to it. There's no official long weekend, in other words.
Yet, like millions of other Aussies, I will be having a 4-day long weekend.
The company that I work for has decided that on Monday the office will not open and we will take a day out of our annual leave, thereby giving us an extended break.
Not that I object, mind you. I think it makes sense because, in this Land of the Long Weekend, there will be a heck of a lot of people who will do the same thing whether their employer closes their business or not.

Many years ago - back in the 1980's - the company I worked for had a new Managing Director (they weren't called "CEO's" back then) come down from the USA. Fred was his name and Fred hadn't a clue about Australians, our idiosyncracies, our "sensayuma" or our public holidays.
He wanted to have a meeting with some people here in Canberra and I was asked to set it up on a particular date.
Unfortunately the date that Fred preferred fell on Canberra Day - a local public holiday - so that buggered his plans.
Then Easter interfered with his alternate choice, so that frustrated him too.
So finally, when he chose Anzac Day and was told that was also a public holiday he lost his cool and blew a fuse, berating the Australians for having too much leisure time.
That little performance was followed up by a few other examples of his intolerance over the next couple of years and he left our shores without regret, I'm sure.
I know that we didn't regret seeing him go.

Anyway - a happy Oz Day to one and all and may you slip on a shirt, slop on the sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek some shade and slide on the sunnies, because it looks as if it's going to be a scorcher.

Enjoy a lamb chop and a coldie!

Christmas 2009 - a family affair.

(All images display larger when clicked)

We played hosts for the traditional Christmas Day lunch - with the traditional turkey and ham and plum pudding.

This year we also had pavlova - a traditional Australian dessert!

(The stupid "spell-checker" has just highlighted "pavlova" as being a non-word. Bloody American-English!)

So son Drew, daughter Lauren, son-in-law Chris and the two grandchildren, William and Matilda, all enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by wife Shirley. The entree of king prawns and the pavlova were brought to us (literally) by Lauren and Chris.

 And what a lovely day for eating as soaking rain fell throughout the day and into the evening. More than 40mm in less than  36 hours; the best Christmas present of all.

Oh dear! I HAVE become a motorcycle collector!

(All photos enlarge when clicked)

As much as I love my Honda CM400A, it is a semi-auto (no clutch) and so I am not getting any experience in co-ordinating clutch operation and gear-changing.

If ever I gain my full license I want to be able to widen my choice of 'bikes and, apart from scooters, there are not many automatics out there. You can count them on the fingers of one hand, in fact.

The CM250 that I bought - back in September as a non-going project - is in pieces whilst I try and source a replacement 430-pitch rear sprocket and chain to mate with the drive sprocket on the CB250 engine. So I can't use that and anyway, it may just end up becoming a stock of spares for the CM400A.

So I decided to buy a small 'bike with a manual 'box.

But it had to be a classic, in good condition and less than $2,000 including delivery to Canberra.

Just before Christmas I bought the two-stroke Suzuki A100 seen here.

It is a 1980 model, but these 'bikes were manufactured with only minor changes for almost twenty years, so the latest model is similar in appearance to the earliest. Here is a link to some brochures.

My bike is not 100% original. The rear shock absorbers have been replaced with YSS units and the handlebar with a cut-down Renthal item. The top end has been rebuilt (slight overbore, new piston & rings), brakes redone and new tyres fitted. Finally, the bike was repainted red over black.

It looks the goods, in my opinion, and the first ride was a real eye-opener for me, as I had not ridden a fully-manual 'bike since doing the Stay Upright course back in August.

Co-ordination of clutch and throttle was practised up and down the driveway, first gear only.

Then, when I had become familiar with the friction-point, I took it out into the cul-de-sac where I live and did figure 8's, looping back and forth and around as I familiarised myself with the low-speed handling and gear changing between 1st. & 2nd. and back again.

That went on for about half-an-hour.

The next morning (Boxing Day) I launched myself out of my street and into the Big World, doing a few laps around the suburb and actually changing up and down through the gears.

Neutral is indistinct - maybe the selector detente is worn - and there were a couple of times when it revved it's head off as I idled along in what I thought was 2nd. but was actually No Man's Land!!

Along one of the local 80 kph stretches of road I did see an indicated 80, the little engine buzzing away at untold revolutions (no tacho), the wind whistling through my raised visor and a couple of cars ambling along behind me.

The experience is totally different to that when riding the Honda.

The CM400A cruises along; the Suzuki definitely does not cruise!

I will continue to practice on this little machine but I would like to have the gear selector looked at, as I think it needs to be more definite in its operation, certainly in that area between 1st., Neutral and 2nd.

When I pop it into a gear, I would like to actually feel it go there, not be left wondering!

A Pause for some Philosophy

Sunday morning and I was reading the papers over a cuppa coffee. Two headlines shared the front page.

One, which made up 80% of the page, consisted of a photograph and a line (enticing one to read more inside) about Tiger Woods' indiscretions. The fact that such rubbish should be on the front page shows you how low we've sunk as a society - and that neatly segues to the second headline, a bottom-of-the-page "banner", which was about the national weekend crackdown by the various police forces on anti-social behaviour associated with drinking.

I looked at this page - the Sunday edition of the Canberra Times - and said to myself "No wonder there's a bloody problem - we've got our priorities arse-about-face".
What has happened to us when the newspaper from Australia's capital city puts the rutting habits of a sporting personality above (literally) a major social problem?

There is a very simple solution to binge-drinking and the anti-social behaviour that is associated with drinking.
All that our elected representatives need do is modify the licensing laws:

• Ban the sale of alcohol at supermarkets and similar retail outlets. Limit it to hotels and clubs and restrict the "take-it-away" trading to licensed bottle-shops attached (physically as well as by license) to hotels or clubs.
• Limit the trading hours of pubs 'n' clubs to 10 AM - 10 PM Sundays through Thursdays and 10 AM - 1 AM Fridays and Saturdays.
• Completely and utterly ignore the screaming that will result from clubs, pubs and those bleeding hearts who proclaim that freedom of choice and civil liberties will be blown away.
• HAVE THE GUTS TO STICK WITH IT!

The solution is staring us in the face and is amplified by today's Sunday Times (Canberra).
When Tiger Woods' "plight" takes centre stage and pushes all else out of the spotlight, we have a real problem.

The bike gets new pipes!

(Both photos, Sony DSC-F717. Click to enlarge)

Remember my Honda CM400A?
Well, it was necessary for me to replace the exhaust collector which sits underneath the engine and into which each exhaust header feeds, with the mufflers connected to the output end.
The outlets had rusted over time and the previous owner had used muffler putty as a temporary repair.

I had a used replacement collector (provided as a spare when I bought the 'bike), in good condition, but I thought I'd veer away from stock-standard and apply a little customising.

My age lends itself to memories of Triumph Bonneville's and Norton Commando's and BSA Lightning's when they were new, so I did a bit of a search on the 'net and found a place here in Australia that was selling a repro set of Dunstall "reverse cone" exhaust pipes.

A little over AUS$220 and a week later I took delivery of a beautiful pair of replica Dunstall's and, in the space of a Saturday afternoon, had the old set off and the new one's fitted and bolted up.

Now, when the 'bike is fired up, not only does it look a bit British, it definitely sounds like a Trumpy.

For anyone who might think that the originality has been sacrificed, never fear.
I have kept the original mufflers and have the replacement collector box, so if the CM400A is ever sold, it will be done so with these original items.

In the meantime, although I can't afford a Commando or Bonneville, I can at least sound like one!

Summer has arrived...........

(All photos - Sony DSC-F717. Click for full-size images)

............with a vengeance, too.
We had some record temperatures during November. Spring? No way - it was full-on summer!

 

It was a year ago that we decided to redesign the front yard due to water restrictions and the continuation of the dry weather. The grass (or weeds, more to the point) just had to go.
So in November 2008 we started on the project, finishing the job by Australia Day 2009.

The grass was poisoned and then after it had died we spread what seemed like three million cubic metres of forest mulch to a depth of at least 100mm over the entire area.
A brick pathway was laid from the front border to the side walkway along the northern wall of the house and it joined up with the existing paved area at the front under the English Elm.

Over the past year - and particularly over the past two months - Shirley has been busy planting a variety of hardy shrubs and ground covers through the area. She has also added some lovely blue pots as features.

So the result is a front garden that appears to be doing very well under these drier conditions.

It will be interesting to see how it fares through to the end of this summer.